Server load management for data migration

ABSTRACT

A system and method for controlling a migration of data items in a data directory from a source system to a destination system by setting one or more target properties for implementing the migration are disclosed. A migration controller can be employed to obtain statistical information regarding the migration. The statistical information can then be used to compute the one or more target properties. For example, a target number of network connections for achieving an optimal total throughput and concurrency can be computed based on an average throughput per network connection. The target number of network connections may be determined by a migration monitor, which may set the determined target number of network connections as a policy to be enforced by the migration controller.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 121 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/099,534 filed Apr. 14, 2016 for “SERVER LOADMANAGEMENT FOR DATA MIGRATION”, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), of U.S. Patent Application No. 62/147,525 filed Apr. 14, 2015for “SERVER LOAD MANAGEMENT FOR DATA MIGRATION” The entire disclosure ofthe above mentioned application is incorporated by reference for allpurposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to managing load on a serverduring data migration.

BACKGROUND

Data migration can add more traffic to the source network than what itmight normally experience, which may strain the source servers (e.g. byhaving to retrieve large amounts of archived data, such as old emailmessages). This strain can inhibit the flow of data across the sourcenetwork, or cause one or more of the source servers to crash. Dependingon the network lag or downtime that is caused by the migration, theeffect on end users may range from a slight, to complete loss, ofproductivity until network conditions return to normal. For a business,the resulting reduction or loss of customer engagement and revenue canbe devastating. And for those tasked with managing the migration, manyhours may be spent diagnosing and solving problems. Therefore, theprevention and/or swift mitigation of these data migration-inducedproblems is of utmost importance.

Contributing factors to the above-described problems may be transient ornon-transient. Transient issues are temporary ones that may be solved ifcertain environmental aspects of the source network are modified, e.g.,by decreasing the number of concurrent migrations. Examples of transientissues include the increased loads experienced by the source server whendata is migrated from it, and when end users make server requeststhrough normal daily operation.

Non-transient limitations are rooted in the design and architecture ofthe source network itself and are thus more difficult to avoid throughsimple changes in the source network's environment. Examples ofnon-transient limitations include the bandwidth and load limitations ofthe source server.

One common solution to load-related problems stemming from transient andnon-transient issues present during data migrations is to perform loadbalancing, which distributes workloads across multiple computingresources. Load balancing aims to maximize data throughput, minimizeresponse times, optimize resource use, and avoid overload of any one ofthe resources.

Current methods of load balancing during a migration, however, arereactive, manual and are not scalable. One such approach is, when anissue arises, a server that controls the migration pings a databaseprimarily used to track data migration orders and user accountinformation (hereinafter referred to as an “order database”). The orderdatabase in turn sends alerts to one or more people tasked with managingthe migration (hereinafter referred to as a “partner”) via a web-basedor local application. Upon notification, the partner then attempts toclassify the problem and solve it based on their knowledge andexperience with the source system in question. These methods used inclassifying and solving the problem lack reliability, however, becauseit can be difficult to know why a particular solution worked or did notwork. The lack of visibility into the source system's health andcapabilities also makes it difficult to determine what its baseline or“normal” operating conditions are, and therefore what conditions shouldbe aimed for when adjusting loads to mitigate transient issues. And,there is a great variety in server and network configurations, as wellas error messages, which make it particularly difficult to classify theroot cause of problems that occur and then apply the correct solution.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that addressthese and other problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments can control a migration of data items in a data directoryfrom a source system to a destination system by setting one or moretarget properties for implementing the migration. A migration controllercan be employed to obtain statistical information regarding themigration. For example, the statistical information can include networkconnection information indicating a number of network connectionscurrently between the source and destination system to facilitate themigration, CPU usage information regarding the source and/or thedestination systems, memory usage information regarding the sourceand/or the destination system, resource usage information, threadinformation and/or any other performance information regarding thesource system and/or the destination system. The statistical informationcan then be used to compute the one or more target properties. Forexample, a target number of network connections for achieving an optimaltotal throughput and concurrency can be computed based on an averagethroughput per network connection. The target number of networkconnections may be determined by a migration monitor, which may set thedetermined target number of network connections as a policy to beenforced by the migration controller.

Other embodiments are directed to systems and computer readable mediaassociated with methods described herein.

A better understanding of the nature and advantages of embodiments ofthe present invention may be gained with reference to the followingdetailed description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is illustrates an example of a system for controlling a migrationbetween a source and a destination system in accordance with thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a data migration monitoring workflowaccording to embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for determining a throughput of agiven network connection between a source system and destination systemin accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method for determining an averagethroughput per network connection between a source system anddestination system in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 5 conceptually illustrates identification of the target number ofnetwork connections by plotting a set of average throughput per networkconnection against corresponding number of network connections.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method for identifying a target numberof network connections that can be implemented for the migration betweena source and destination systems.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an example user interface used tomanage server load in a data migration according to embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an example computer system 10 usablewith systems and methods according to embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments can provide load management to address load-related issuesthat may occur during a data migration. Some embodiments accomplish thisby gathering statistics across various servers in a data migrationenvironment to determine optimal loading conditions for the servers.

Some embodiments can dynamically determine non-transient limitations ofa source server, and therefore its baseline operating conditions, sothat an optimal throughput may be determined and applied for a datamigration. Some embodiments described herein may also match errormessages against a library to categorize errors and determine and applyappropriate corrective actions.

I. Architecture

In various embodiments, a system is employed for controlling a migrationbetween a source and a destination system. FIG. 1 illustrates an exampleof such a system, i.e. system 100 as shown. System 100 can be configuredto control a migration of data from a source server (not shown) to adestination server (not shown). In this example, system 100 comprises amigration monitor 110, one or more of a migration controller 105, anorder database 120, a project management application 130, and an elasticcontroller 135. It should be understood the arrangement and thecomponents of system 100 shown in FIG. 1 are not intended to belimiting. In some embodiments, the system configured to manage serverload in a data migration in accordance with the disclosure can includemore or less components than those shown in FIG. 1, and/or can bearranged differently from the arrangement shown in FIG. 1.

A. Migration Controller

The migration controller 105 can be configured to control a sourcesystem and/or destination system involved in a data migration. In someembodiments, migration controller 105 can be reserved by the elasticcontroller 125, based on a customer order submitted through a projectmanagement application 130 and relayed through the order database 120.The migration controller 105 can control the migration according to aconfiguration made in the project management application 130. Any numberof connections could be created between the migration controllers 105and the source and destination servers.

One or more of the migration controller 105 can be allocated to controlthe migration depending on a customer order. In some embodiments,migration controller 105 can correspond to a virtual machine. In oneembodiment, there can be one migration controller per datadirectory—i.e., a collection of data items logically grouped, e.g., amailbox. For example, there could be 100 mailboxes, where 10 mailboxesare migrated at a time, and thus 10 migration controllers could beallocated. An order (i.e., set of mailboxes to be migrated) could usemultiple servers, each potentially with multiple migration controllers105. Thus, a grouping of mailboxes can map to a single server.Database(s) 112 can be used to track which migration controllerscorrespond to a particular order in which computer servers the migrationcontrollers are running on. In some implementations, a single migrationcontroller 105 can be allocated to control multiple source and/ordestination systems. Once allocated to control the migration betweensource and destination systems, the migration controller 105 can beconfigured to register itself with migration monitor 110.

The migration controller 105 can be configured to communicate with asource and/or a destination system as a proxy and mediate the data flowbetween them. Connections may be established between the migrationcontroller 105 and the source system, as well as between the migrationcontroller 105 and the destination system. Any number of theseconnections can be created.

Migration controller 105 can be configured to send instructions to thesource system and/or the destination system. Through the instructions,the migration controller 105 can instruct the source and/or destinationsystem to perform certain operations and/or set certain limits on one ormore resources that can be provided by the source system and/or thedestination system. For example, as illustration, the migrationcontroller 105 can be configured to send instructions to the sourcesystem to limit the number of network connections that can beestablished by the source system. As will be described in detail below,the migration controller 105 can set a target number of networkconnections determined based on average throughput per networkconnection and send an instruction to the source system to limit thenumber of network connections that can be established by the sourcesystem within the target number of network connections. As anotherexample, the migration controller 105 can be configured to send aninstruction to request the source system to send certain amount of datato the migration controller 105. For instance, the migration controller105 can send a request to create a network connection (e.g. a TCPconnection) between the source system and the migration controller 105to transmit one or more files (e.g., e-mails, PDF documents, etc.).

The migration controller 105 can be configured to measure one or moreproperties of the migration between the source system and destinationsystem. For example, the migration controller 105 can send a request toobtain a number of network connections currently being establishedbetween the source system and destination system for facilitating themigration. As another example, the migration controller 105 can beconfigured to monitor data flow between the source system anddestination system and determine a communication speed between the two.Still as another example, the migration controller 105 can be configuredto gather various performance statistics from the source system and/orthe destination system. For instance, the migration controller 105 canbe configured to poll load information, CPU usage information, memoryusage information, resource usage information, and/or any otherinformation.

Once registered with the migration monitor 110, the migration controller105 can be configured to communicate with migration monitor 110 via theservice bus 115. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In someother examples, the migration controller 105 can communicate with themigration monitor 110 via a wired and/or a wireless network. In anycase, after being registered with the migration monitor 110, themigration controller 105 can be configured to receive one or morepolicies from the migration controller 105 and enforce these policies.As will be described below, the policies received from the migrationmonitor 110 can specify certain target properties and/or thresholdvalues to be maintained during the migration between the source systemand the destination system. For example, the policies can specify atarget number of network connections that can be established by thesource system and the migration controller 105 can be configured toenforce this. For instance, the migration controller 105 canperiodically obtain network connection information from the sourcesystem and determine whether the number of network connections betweenthe source system and the destination system has exceed the targetnumber of network connections. In the case when it is determined thatnumber of network connections between the source system and thedestination system, the migration controller 105 can send one or moreinstructions to the source system to reduce the number of networkconnections established between the source system and the destinationsystem.

In some implementations, the migration controller 105 can be configuredto send various statistical information regarding the migrationcontrolled by the migration controller 105. The migration controller 105can be configured to send messages to the migration monitor 110 when thepolicies set by the migration monitor 110 is breached by the migration.In some implementations, the migration monitor 110 can send instructionsto the migration controller 105 to have the migration controller 105address the breach of the policies. For example, if the source systemhas established more than the target number of network connections withthe destination system, the migration monitor 110 can send instructionsto the migration controller 105 to have the migration controller 105reduce the number of network connections to the target number of networkconnections; or set a new target number of network connections higherthan the previous one. However, this is not intended to be limiting, insome implementations, the migration controller 105 can be configured toaddress the breach of the policies by automatically generate thoseinstructions on its own.

B. Migration Monitor

The migration monitor 110 can be configured to determine one or moretarget properties of the migration controlled by the migrationcontroller 105. As described above, the migration controller 105 canregister itself with the migration monitor 110. After the migrationcontroller 105 having been registered, the migration monitor 110 can beconfigured to obtain certain statistics regarding the migrationcontrolled by the migration controller 105 for determining the one ormore target properties. For example, as described above, migrationmonitor 110 can be configured to use the statistics information to makedeterminations about one or more target properties for the migrationcontrolled by the migration controller 105. The migration monitor 110can be configured to then send the determined target properties aspolicies to the migration controller 105 to have the migrationcontroller 105 enforce those policies for the migration. For example,the policies may define what is needed to maintain a productive andefficient migration—for example minimum and maximum data throughputrates may be defined. In certain implementations, the migration monitor110 can receive messages from the migration controller 105 indicatingone or more of the polices have been breached by the migration betweenthe source and the destination systems; and generate instructions to themigration controller 105 to have the migration controller 105 addressthe breach.

In some implementations, the migration monitor 110 can be configured toreceive and/or make queries for a status update of the current state ofthe migration controller 105 through a service bus 115 (the statusupdate hereinafter referred to as the “heartbeat” of the migrationcontroller 105). Migration controller 105 can obtain the data for oneconnection, and migration monitor 110 can analyze the data. Othermigration controllers can obtain data for other connections. Such datamay include, but is not limited to, response times (e.g. how long ittakes for each individual file in a migration to migrate from the sourcesystem to the migration controller 105), and error state (e.g. whetherthe connection to the source server is severed for some reason, as mayoccur when losing authentication). The heartbeat may be a signal linkedto a non-application-specific event, e.g. it is broadcast and/orreceived at certain intervals like once every 2 minutes.

In some implementations, the migration monitor 110 can be configured todetermine throughput for individual network connections between thesource and destination systems. In those implementations, fordetermining the throughput for a given network connection, the migrationmonitor 110 can send requests to the source or destination system viathe migration controller 105. The requests can have source ordestination system send to the other system an amount of data throughthe given network connection. The migration monitor 110 can then obtainresponse time (RT), which may be used to determine baseline conditionsfor the source and/or destination systems. In some implementations,response times may be measured by the migration controller 105, bystarting a timer when the requested data is sent to the source ordestination system, and stopping the timer when the requested data isreceived at the destination or source system. For example, the migrationmonitor 110 can request the source system to send 10M bytes to thedestination system through the given network connections and then obtainthe response time for the 10M bytes to be received at the destinationsystem. That is, the response time, in that example, is the time periodbetween when the 10M bytes are requested to be sent by the source systemand when the 10M bytes are completely received by the destinationsystem. However, it should be understood, in some other examples, theresponse time can be defined differently. For example, the response timecan be defined only as a time period that takes the source system tocompletely send the 10M bytes through the network connections.

In any case, once the response time is obtained via the migrationcontroller 105, the migration monitor 110 can be configured to computethe throughput for the given network connections by dividing the curveamount of the data sent through the given network connection by theresponse time. For example, as illustration, if the response timeobtained by the migration monitor 110 is 4 seconds, then the throughputof the network connection is 10 MB/4 seconds=2.5 MB/s.

In some implementations, the migration monitor 110 can be configured tocompute the throughput of the given network connection by sendingmultiple requests to the source or destination systems to have them sendto the other system an amount of data for each request. For example, themigration monitor 110 can send out 10 requests to the source system tohave the source system send 1 MB data to the destination system throughthe given network connection on each request. The migration monitor 110can then obtain total response time all of the requests to compute thethroughput of the given network connections. For example, if the totalresponse time is 20 seconds, the throughput of the given networkconnection is (10×1 MB)/20 seconds=0.5 MB.

The migration monitor 110 can be configured to compute an averagethroughput per network connection based on the individual throughputs ofall of the network connections between the source and destinationsystems. For example, the migration monitor 110 can compute a throughputfor each of the network connections between the source and destinationsystems, and sum up all of the throughputs to obtain a total throughputof all of the network connections. The average throughput per networkconnection can then computed by dividing the total throughput for all ofthe network connections by the number of the network connections. Forexample, there may be four network connections between the source anddestination systems with the first network connection having 1 MB/sthroughput, the second network connection having 0.5 MB/s throughput,the third network connection have 0.8 MB/s and the fourth networkconnection having 2.5 MB/S. The total throughput for all the networkconnections can then be computed by the migration monitor 110 to be1+0.5+0.8+2.5=4.8 MB/S. The average throughput per network connectioncan then be computed by the migration monitor 110 to be 4.8/4=1.2 MB/s.

In some implementations, the migration monitor 110 can be configured toidentify a target number of network connections that may be implementedfor the migration between the source and destination systems. In thoseimplementations, the migration monitor 110 can be configured todetermine a set of average throughputs per network connection betweenthe source and destination systems. Each of the average throughput inthe set can correspond to a unique number of network connections. Forexample, the migration monitor 110 can be configured to determine anaverage throughput per network connection when there are 4 networkconnections established between the source and destination systems; todetermine another average throughput per network connection when there 5network connections established between the source and destinationsystem; to determine yet another average throughput per networkconnection when there 6 network connections established between thesource and destination system; and so on. The migration monitor 110 canthe identify the target number of the network connections, which mayrepresent an optimal number of network connections for achieving goodthroughput and parallelism, by determining a function of averagethroughput per network connection with respect to a quantity of networkconnections. In some implementations, the identification of the targetnumber of network connections can be based on a change in the number ofnetwork connections.

In some implementations, error state information (e.g. whether an erroris recoverable or not recoverable) can be used to initiate a process ofdetermining whether existing errors may be resolved by reducingconcurrency (defined herein as the number of simultaneous connectionsbetween the source server and the migration controller 105), asdescribed in more detail below.

The one or more database(s) 112 of the migration monitor 110 in someembodiments may serve multiple functions. For example, the database(s)112 may hold a list of registered customers so that associations may bemade between data to be migrated (e.g. a grouping of mailboxes) and themigration controller(s) reserved for them. Database(s) 112 may be usedto compute baseline conditions for the source system using certainalgorithms described in more detail below, and may generate policies andcommands based on data received from the migration controller 105.

The migration monitor 110 can be configured to generate one or moreinstructions after a message is received from the migration controller105 indicating one or more policies have been breached by the migrationbetween the source and destination systems. The migration monitor 110can send the instructions to the migration controller 105 via theservice bus 115, e.g. “reduce concurrency from ten connections to fiveconnections.” Such instructions may include commands specific to aparticular migration controller 105 or may be the broadcast of one ormore commands to multiple migration controllers 105, corresponding toone or more data migrations. The migration monitor 110 may send policydefinitions to migration controllers 105 in the same fashion.

C. Service Bus

In some embodiments, a service bus 115 receives the heartbeat of themigration controller 105. The service bus 115 may act as an inter-servercommunication/broadcast channel. In some embodiments, the service bus115 may be a server that forwards a set of commands, e.g. adjustingnumber of connections, shut down entirely, etc. to achieve maximumefficient throughput. In some embodiments, the communication broadcastby the service bus 115 may be asynchronous. Service bus 115 can queuecommunications to be sent to various devices in system 100. In certainaspects, the service bus can be a special type of external queue system,which stores and earmarks messages for specific channels. Certainmachines (virtual or non-virtual) may be designated to read messagesfrom specific channels. For example, either the first machine on achannel may read a message, or all machines on the channel can read themessage. In times of high load, the number of messages on the servicebus can increase and extra machines may be spun up in response to handlethe load.

In some embodiments, any process, routine, or “image” (e.g. migrationcontroller, migration monitor, project management application, etc.) canconnect to the service bus 115 and receive the data it broadcasts. Forexample, the migration monitor 110 can subscribe to any detail in the“heartbeat” from the migration controller 105, and any commands sentfrom the migration monitor 110 can be sent to a certain migrationcontroller 105 or all migration controllers 105 that correspond to acertain customer order.

The use of a service bus as described above is an improvement oversending the heartbeat and other communications through an orderdatabase, as there may be less control over such an order databasebecause it may not be designed for changes or it may be an inaccessiblethird-party database. This may make it difficult to scale to meet thedemands of the source system. In other words, the events that couldboost the number of migration controllers 105 are directly related tothe behavior of end users and system administrators and therefore maynot be controlled with a third party interface. It follows that it isadvantageous to offload to the service bus any communications that occurwith regularity, like the heartbeat and commands to increase or decreasethroughput.

D. Order Database

In some embodiments, an order database 120 stores data related to a datamigration such as migration order information and end user account data.The order database 120 may be a third party database. The order database120 may act as an intermediary between the migration controller 105 andthe project management application 130. The order database 120 may sendnotifications to the project management application 130 upon certainevents, for example if any data the order database 120 receives from themigration controller 105 indicates that the data migration is not ontarget to be completed on time, or if a policy has been violated. Forexample, a notification can be sent by the order database 120 to theproject management application 130 if a data migration abruptly slows involume to a point below a defined minimum in a policy.

E. Elastic Controller

Some embodiments may include an elastic controller 125, which mayconsist of a database and a workflow (i.e. logic). The elasticcontroller 125 may monitor the order database 120 and take action basedon its workflow. For example, if the elastic controller 125 finds ascheduled data migration in the order database 120, the elasticcontroller 125 may reserve the migration controller 105 (i.e. one ormore servers) as necessary to carry out the migration when needed.

F. Project Management Application

Some embodiments may include a project management application 130,accessible to users via a front end user interface (UI). The projectmanagement application 130 may be used to manage and monitor datamigrations, and may be web-based or application-based. An administrativeUI may be used for administrative access to the project managementapplication 130, for example to allow for additional permissions tomanage a migration. The front end interface may include a web interfaceand/or a mobile interface. See below for more information related to theuse of the project management application to manage a data migration.

II. Error Handling

In some embodiments, error messages received from the source server gothrough one or more rounds of error handling in order to attempt tomitigate them. For example, in a first round of error handling, themigration controller 105 may make certain actions to address item-levelerrors (i.e. errors that are not systemic to a higher level like anentire mailbox or system), such as retrying the action that originallyproduced the error message, re-formatting the request, etc. If this doesnot solve the problem, the error may be noted and the migration maycontinue, or the error may go through a second level of error handling,where one or more actions may be taken that is applicable to the nexthighest level, e.g. to the mailbox in an email migration. If thoseactions fail, the error may then be addressed by the migration monitor,which has information on a more global level, e.g. a migration “order”that includes details about the entire migration. Actions taken at thisglobal level may include reducing concurrency to try to mitigate theerrors.

III. Communication Workflow

In some embodiments, communication between the migration controller 105and migration monitor 110 may occur as shown in FIG. 2.

At block 202, the migration controller 105 can register itself with themigration monitor 110, so that the migration controller 105 can identifyitself to the migration monitor 110. This registration is done so thatthe migration monitor 110 will know that the migration controller 105 isactive and should be monitored. The registration at 202 can involve themigration controller 105 sending its identification information,information regarding the migration controlled by the migrationcontroller 105, and/or any other information. The information regardingthe migration controlled by the migration controller 105 can includesource system information, destination information, a state of themigration between the source and destination system, network informationregarding one or more network connections established between the sourceand destination systems.

At block 204, the migration monitor 110 obtains, from the migrationcontroller 105, one or more statistics regarding the migration. Thestatistics received at 204 can include a number of network connectionscurrently established between the source and destination systems, loadinformation, CPU usage information, memory usage information, resourceusage information, thread information, and/or any other performanceinformation regarding the source and/or the destination systems. Forexample, the migration controller 105 can periodically send themigration monitor 110 information indicating an average throughput pernetwork connection between the source and destination systems and thenumber of network connections currently being established between thetwo.

At block 206, the migration monitor 110 can determine one or more targetproperties for the migration controlled by the migration controller 105based on the statistics received at 204. For example, as described andillustrated herein, the migration monitor 110 can be configured toidentify a target number of network connections for the migration basedon the individual throughputs of all of the network connections betweenthe source and destination systems.

At block 208, the migration monitor 110 can send a policy for the sourcesystem to the migration controller 105. As mentioned above, a policycorresponds to data to the migration controller 105 in real-time thatdirects the migration controller 105 to execute various functions basedon a certain set of rules. For example, the policy can include themigration between the source system and destination should have no morethan the target number of network connections.

At block 210, if and when the migration controller 105 based the policy(based on one or more error messages that are received), the migrationcontroller 105 sends the error state to the migration monitor 110.Policies can be used to handle errors on the migration controller 105 indifferent ways. For example, if the count of a specific error typeexceeds a certain threshold set by the policy, the migration controller105 errors may send back a message to the migration monitor 110indicating a faulted state. Additionally, some error types may beconsidered to be innocuous to the process and suppressed from furthertransmission by the policy, while other error types may be singled outby the policy for transmission back the Migration Monitor for additionalreview.

At block 212, the migration monitor 110 can match the error state withthe policy and send the appropriate instructions back to the migrationcontroller 105 to fix the issue. Example instructions may include, butare not limited to: increase concurrency (i.e., increased number ofconnections), decrease concurrency, or halt the migration.

IV. Determination of Target Number of Network Connections for theMigration

In some embodiments, an average throughput per network connection can bedetermined and maintained by the migration controller 105 and/ormigration monitor 110 as the migration controller 105 continues tomeasure response time during the migration between source anddestinations systems. In some embodiments, the average throughput perconnection can be determined by tracking amount of data sent through thenetwork connections and corresponding response times. In someembodiments, the migration controller 105 tracks these values andcompute the average throughput per connection based on these values. Inthose embodiments, the average throughput per network connection canthen be continuously sent to the migration monitor 110.

In some embodiments, the migration monitor 110 can be configured toidentify a target number of network connections corresponding to aspecific change in average throughput per network connection withrespect to a change in the number of the network connections. In oneexample, the average throughput per network connection is plotted as afunction of a corresponding number of network connections. The resultingfunction can then be used to determine target number of networkconnections for the migration controller by the migration controller105, as described in more detail below. In the below calculations, theconcept of a “data directory” may be used, where a data directory is aspecific collection of data to be migrated, e.g. a data directory cancorrespond to a mailbox in an email migration.

A. Determining Throughput of a Given Network Connection

A number of different ways can be used to obtain throughput of a givennetwork connection between the source system and destination during themigration. For example, the migration controller 105 can be configuredto measure response time for certain amount of data transmitted from thesource system to the destination system through the given networkconnection during the migration. In that example, the migrationcontroller 105 or the migration monitor 110 can be configured to computethe throughput of the given network connection during the migration bydividing the total amount of data sent by the measured response time.Another example of determining the throughput of the given networkconnection is to dynamically request the source or destination systemsto send an amount of data. In that example, the response time for eachrequest can be specifically obtained by the migration controller 105 andthe average throughput per network connection can then be computed.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for determining a throughputof a given network connection between a source system and destinationsystem in accordance with the disclosure. The operations of method 300presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments,method 300 may be accomplished with one or more additional operationsnot described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 300 areillustrated in FIG. 3 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some embodiments, method 300 may be implemented in a migrationcontroller 105 and/or a migration monitor 110, which may each includeone or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analogprocessor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analogcircuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 300 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 300.

At 302, a number of requests may be generated and sent to the source orthe destination system. Each of the requests can request the source orthe destination system to send a corresponding amount of data to theother system through a particular network connection during themigration. For example, 5 requests may be sent one after anotherserially to request the source system to send an amount of datacorresponding to each request to the destination system through thegiven network connection. The amount of data to be sent in each requestcan be the same across all of the requests or can vary. For example,each of the 5 requests can request the source system to send 1 MB datato the destination system during the migration through the networkconnection. As another example, the first request can request the sourcesystem to send 0.8 MB data to the destination system, the second requestcan request the source system to send 1 MB data to the destinationsystem, the third request can request the source system to send 1.2 MBdata to the destination system, the fourth request can request thesource system to send 1.4 MB data to the destination system, and thefifth request can request the source system to send 1.6 MB data to thedestination system.

At 304, response time to fulfill each of the requests made in 302 can beobtained. In certain embodiments, the source system and the destinationsystem may keep a record for each request indicating when the requestedamount of the data is first sent from the source system and when therequested amount of the data is completely received at the destinationsystem. In those embodiments, the migration controller 105 may beconfigured to obtain those timestamps to determine the response time forthe request. In some other examples, the response times may be measuredby the migration controller 105, by starting a timer when the requesteddata is sent to the source or destination system, and stopping the timerwhen the requested data is received at the destination or source system.

At 306, total response time for all of the requests made in 302 can bedetermined. The operations involved in 306 may simply include summing upresponse time for all of the requests obtained at 304.

At 308, an average throughput of the network connection can bedetermined based on the total response time determined at 306 and totalamount of requested data sent through the network connection. In certainimplementations, operations involved in 308 can include dividing thetotal amount of requested data sent through the network connection bythe total response time determined at 306. For example, as illustration,if the total response time obtained at 306 is 4 seconds and the totalamount of data requested to be sent at 302 is 10 MB, then the throughputof the network connection is 10 MB/4 seconds=2.5 MB/s.

B. Computing Average Throughput Per Network Connection

In some embodiments, there can be multiple connections between sourceand destination system for migrating data items in a data directory(e.g. more than one connection per mailbox in an email migration). Inthose embodiments, an average throughput per connection may becalculated. As will be discussed in the next section, the averagethroughput per connection can be used to identify a target number ofnetwork connections that can be implemented for the migration controlledby the migration controller 105.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method 400 for determining an averagethroughput per network connection between a source system anddestination system in accordance with the disclosure. The operations ofmethod 400 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In someembodiments, method 400 may be accomplished with one or more additionaloperations not described and/or without one or more of the operationsdiscussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 400are illustrated in FIG. 3 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some embodiments, method 400 may be implemented in a migrationcontroller 105 and/or a migration monitor 110, which may each includeone or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analogprocessor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analogcircuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 400 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 400.

At 402, the number of network connections currently between the sourcesystem and destination system for migrating data items in a datadirectory can be determined. In certain implementations, operationsinvolved in 402 can include obtaining network connection informationfrom the source system and/or the destination system periodically. Thenetwork connection information can indicate a number of networkconnections currently between the source system and the destinationsystem for facilitating the migration of the data items in the datadirectory.

At 404, for each of network connections determined at 402, a throughputcan be determined. In some implementations, the operations fordetermining throughput of a given network connection involved in 404 caninclude steps of method 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

At 406, an average throughput per network connection can be determined.In certain implementations, operations involved in 406 can includesumming up the throughput of each of the network connections determinedat 404 to obtain a combined throughput and dividing the combinedthroughput by the number of network connections determined at 402. Theaverage throughput per network connection determined at 406 can bepaired with the number of the network connections determined at 402 foridentifying a target number of network connections that will bediscussed in the next section.

V. Identifying a Target Number of Network Connections

In some embodiments, a target number of network connections can beidentified. The target of network connections can be determined formigration of a data directory or for the source and/or destinationsystems. As described above, an average throughput per networkconnection can be determined. In some embodiments, that determinationcan be made for migration of the data direction. For example, if 6network connections are employed for migrating a particular mailbox,then an average throughput per connection for those 6 networkconnections can be determined for the migration of the mailbox asdescribed above. In some embodiments, that determination can be made forthe source system or destination system. For example, if there are 30network connections between the source and destination systems formigrating 3 mailboxes concurrently, an average throughput per connectionfor those 30 connections can be determined for the migration between thesource and destination systems can be determined.

From a conceptual point of view, the target number of networkconnections represent a balance between optimal network throughput andconcurrency. On the one end, when there is only one network connectionfor the migration, the throughput for that network connection can bevery high, but the total throughput may not be very high. On the otherend, where there are many network connections for the migration, theaverage throughput per connection may be low due to heavy network loadon the systems, which may also result in not very high total throughput.Thus, as the number of network connections increase during themigration, the average throughput per connection can increase and thendecrease. Under the target number of network connections, a high totalthroughput of the network connections and as well as good concurrencymay be achieved.

FIG. 5 conceptually illustrates identification of the target number ofnetwork connections by plotting a set of average throughput per networkconnection against corresponding number of network connections. In someembodiments, the set of average throughput per network connection can bedetermined using the steps of method 400 shown in FIG. 4. As describedabove, for each of the average throughput per network connectiondetermined by method 400, a corresponding number of network connectionscan be obtained. This relationship between the average throughput pernetwork connection and the corresponding number of network connectionscan then plotted as shown in FIG. 5. That is, a series of points can beplotted in the X-Y coordinate system shown in FIG. 5, wherein the Xcoordinate of each of the series of the points corresponds to the numberof network connections corresponding to each of the average throughputsin the set and the Y coordinate corresponds to the average throughputsper network connection in the set.

A curve 502 may then be fit to the plot and may be used to determine afunction of the average throughput per network connection with respectto the quantity of network connections. Using that curve 502, a goal canbe to find a target point 504 on the curve 502 representing a specificchange in average throughput per connection due to a change in thechange in number of connections. In this example, at the target point504, the curve 502 drops steeply. This indicates change in averagethroughput per connection after the target point 504 becomes greaterthan that before the target point 504. In this example, X₁ represents anumber of network connections between the source and destination systemsat certain point in time during the migration, and Y₁ represents theaverage throughput per connection at that point in time during themigration. The shaded area in the graph represents the total throughputof the X₁ number of network connections, which represents a maximumtotal throughput that can be achieved.

In some implementations, the target point 504 can be identified byfinding a target slope tangential to the curve 502 at that point. Inthis example, at the target point, the slope 506 is negative 1. However,this is not intended to be limiting. The target slope 506 can be anydesired value.

In some embodiments, the target number of network connections may be setas the local maximum for the policy for the migration. Once the targettotal number of connections is determined, then it can be set on themigration controller 105 by setting the policy so the migration betweenthe source and destination systems can be implemented using the targetnumber of network connections. For example, if the target number ofnetwork connections is determined to be 30 connections, the networkconnections between the source and destination systems can be reduced to30 when more than 30 network connections are established between thesource and destination system during the migration. As another example,the network connections between the source and destination systems canbe increased to 30 (e.g., more connections can be established to migrateadditional mailboxes concurrently) when less than 30 network connectionsare established between the source and destination system during themigration.

In some embodiments, the target total number of connections may be setby the migration monitor 110 and/or the migration controller 105 inreal-time, or at certain intervals (e.g. once every 20 seconds, onceevery 30 minutes, etc.), with the necessary steps repeated as needed tocalculate the target total number of connections as described andillustrated herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method 600 for identifying a targetnumber of network connections that can be implemented for the migrationbetween a source and destination systems. The operations of method 600presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments,method 600 may be accomplished with one or more additional operationsnot described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 600 areillustrated in FIG. 3 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some embodiments, method 600 may be implemented in a migrationcontroller 105 and/or a migration monitor 110, which may each includeone or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analogprocessor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analogcircuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 600 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 600.

At 602, a set of average throughput per network connections can beplotted against corresponding number of network connections in a X-Ycoordinate system. In certain implementations, operations involved in602 can include plotting a series of points in the X-Y coordinatesystem, wherein the X coordinate of each of the series of the pointscorresponds to the number of network connections corresponding to eachof the average throughputs in the set and the Y coordinate of each ofthe series of the points corresponds to the average throughputs pernetwork connection in the set. The plotting does not need to bedisplayed, and can be accomplished by identifying each of the datapoints comprised of the average throughput and the number ofconnections.

At 604, a curve can be fit to the plot done at 602. In certainimplementations, operations involved in 604 can include connecting theseries points plotted in 602, e.g., with piecewise linear, quadratic, orhigher order polynomials. Other functions can be used as well. Thefitting can determine variables (coefficients) of the function to whichthe fit is performed.

At 606, a target point can be identified on the curve done at 604. Incertain implementations, the target point can be identified such thatthe tangential slope of the curve at the target point equals negativeone. Other slopes can be used based on the level of degradation peradding a connection that is tolerable. In certain implementations, thetarget point can identified based on the points on the curve done at 604before and/or after the target point. For example, the target point canbe identified based on the Y direction of the curve. In one embodiment,the target point is identified because the curve decreases mostsignificantly in Y direction at the target point.

At 608, the X value of the target point identified at 606 can set as thetarget number of network connections to be implemented by the migrationbetween the source and destination systems. In some implementations, thetarget number of the network connections can be sent to a migrationcontroller the same as or substantially similar to the migrationcontroller 105 for implementation as described and illustrated herein.

VI. User Interface for Server Load Management

In some embodiments, a user interface may be used to manage server loadfor a migration. This user interface may be part of the projectmanagement application described above, or it may be the front-facingend of a different application. An example user interface used in someembodiments is shown in FIG. 7; the functionality of the interface isdescribed in be more detail below.

A. Setting Number of Connections

A module 710 may be used to set the number of connections per set. Theuser may manipulate a slider 711, for example to the right at 712 toincrease the number of connections per set, and to the left to decreasethe number of connections per set; the number of connections chosen bythe user with the slider 711 may be displayed on the module 710. Theslider may be bound by an upper limit at 713, for example to a maximumnumber (x₄ on FIG. 6) of connections per mailbox allowed by the emailprovider for the source system. The target number of connections perserver may be displayed at 714, which the user might use for referencewhen setting the number of connections per set. A maximum number ofconnections can also be limited by a number of connections per mailboxand a total number of mailboxes to be migrated.

When a user changes the number of connections per set (e.g. the numberof connections per mailbox in an email migration), the number of setsmigrated concurrently may change. For example, in the case of a maximumof 60 connections per mailbox allowed, an increase in the number ofconnections per mailbox from 4 to 6 would result in the maximum numberof concurrent mailboxes migrating to decrease from 15 to 10, in order tostay at or below the maximum number of connections per set (i.e.mailbox) allowed per order. Changes in the number of migrating sets inreaction to a user changing the number of connections per set may beshown on the user interface. In the example above, for instance, thenumber of sets (i.e. mailboxes) listed as concurrently migrating on theuser interface could decrease from 15 to 10 in reaction to the userincreasing the number of connections per set from 4 to 6.

B. Setting Throughput

A module 720 may be used to set the total throughput per server. Theuser may manipulate a slider 721, for example downwards at 722 to reducethe total throughput per server, or upwards to increase the totalthroughput per server; the total throughput per server chosen by theuser with the slider 721 may be displayed on the module 720. The slidermay be bound by an upper limit at 723, for example the target throughputper server as calculated above (and which may be updated dynamicallyover time). The upper limit may be based on a number of values, forexample a theoretical maximum, or target throughput.

A timer 724 may be used to schedule throughput targets based on the timeof day. This allows the user to optimize the experience of end users onthe source system during certain hours of the day, such as peak businesshours. For example, a user could set the total throughput per server toa high level when the least amount of end users of the source system areusing the source system, and a lower level when more end users of thesource system are using the source system.

In some embodiments, a module 730 may display the start date of amigration at 731, and a projected completion date at 732 based on theserver size and average throughout.

VII. Computer System

Any of the computer systems mentioned herein may utilize any suitablenumber of subsystems. Examples of such subsystems are shown in FIG. 8 incomputer system 10. In some embodiments, a computer system includes asingle computer apparatus, where the subsystems can be the components ofthe computer apparatus. In other embodiments, a computer system caninclude multiple computer apparatuses, each being a subsystem, withinternal components.

The subsystems shown in FIG. 8 are interconnected via a system bus 75.Additional subsystems such as a printer 74, keyboard 78, storagedevice(s) 78, monitor 76, which is coupled to display adapter 82, andothers are shown. Peripherals and input/output (I/O) devices, whichcouple to I/O controller 71, can be connected to the computer system byany number of means known in the art such as input/output (I/O) port 77(e.g., USB, FireWire). For example, I/O port 77 or external interface 81(e.g. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.) can be used to connect computer system 10to a wide area network such as the Internet, a mouse input device, or ascanner. The interconnection via system bus 75 allows the centralprocessor 73 to communicate with each subsystem and to control theexecution of instructions from system memory 72 or the storage device(s)78 (e.g., a fixed disk, such as a hard drive or optical disk), as wellas the exchange of information between subsystems. The system memory 72and/or the storage device(s) 78 may embody a computer readable medium.Any of the data mentioned herein can be output from one component toanother component and can be output to the user.

A computer system can include a plurality of the same components orsubsystems, e.g., connected together by external interface 81 or by aninternal interface. In some embodiments, computer systems, subsystem, orapparatuses can communicate over a network. In such instances, onecomputer can be considered a client and another computer a server, whereeach can be part of a same computer system. A client and a server caneach include multiple systems, subsystems, or components.

It should be understood that any of the embodiments can be implementedin the form of control logic using hardware (e.g. an applicationspecific integrated circuit or field programmable gate array) and/orusing computer software with a generally programmable processor in amodular or integrated manner. As used herein, a processor includes asingle-core processor, multi-core processor on a same integrated chip,or multiple processing units on a single circuit board or networked.Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person ofordinary skill in the art will know and appreciate other ways and/ormethods to implement various embodiments using hardware and acombination of hardware and software.

Any of the software components or functions described in thisapplication may be implemented as software code to be executed by aprocessor using any suitable computer language such as, for example,Java, C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Swift, or scripting language such as Perlor Python using, for example, conventional or object-orientedtechniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructionsor commands on a computer readable medium for storage and/ortransmission, suitable media include random access memory (RAM), a readonly memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppydisk, or an optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digitalversatile disk), flash memory, and the like. The computer readablemedium may be any combination of such storage or transmission devices.

Such programs may also be encoded and transmitted using carrier signalsadapted for transmission via wired, optical, and/or wireless networksconforming to a variety of protocols, including the Internet. As such, acomputer readable medium according to an embodiment may be created usinga data signal encoded with such programs. Computer readable mediaencoded with the program code may be packaged with a compatible deviceor provided separately from other devices (e.g., via Internet download).Any such computer readable medium may reside on or within a singlecomputer product (e.g. a hard drive, a CD, or an entire computersystem), and may be present on or within different computer productswithin a system or network. A computer system may include a monitor,printer, or other suitable display for providing any of the resultsmentioned herein to a user.

Any of the methods described herein may be totally or partiallyperformed with a computer system including one or more processors, whichcan be configured to perform the steps. Thus, embodiments can bedirected to computer systems configured to perform the steps of any ofthe methods described herein, potentially with different componentsperforming a respective steps or a respective group of steps. Althoughpresented as numbered steps, steps of methods herein can be performed ata same time or in a different order. Additionally, portions of thesesteps may be used with portions of other steps from other methods. Also,all or portions of a step may be optional. Additionally, any of thesteps of any of the methods can be performed with modules, circuits, orother means for performing these steps.

The specific details of particular embodiments may be combined in anysuitable manner without departing from the spirit and scope of variousembodiments. However, other embodiments may be directed to specificembodiments relating to each individual aspect, or specific combinationsof these individual aspects.

The above description of exemplary embodiments has been presented forthe purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit embodiments to the precise form described, andmany modifications and variations are possible in light of the teachingabove. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of some embodiments and their practicalapplications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilizevarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

A recitation of “a”, “an” or “the” is intended to mean “one or more”unless specifically indicated to the contrary. The use of “or” isintended to mean an “inclusive or,” and not an “exclusive or” unlessspecifically indicated to the contrary.

All patents, patent applications, publications, and descriptionsmentioned here are incorporated by reference in their entirety for allpurposes. None is admitted to be prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: registering a migrationcontroller with a migration monitor, the migration controller designatedto migrate a set of one or more data items from a source server todestination server; sending, from the migration monitor to the migrationcontroller, a policy to be enforced by the migration controller whenmigrating the set of one or more data items, wherein the policyspecifies one or more target properties of the migration; measuring, bythe migration controller, one or more properties of the migration;determining, by the migration controller, the one or more measuredproperties are outside of the one or more target properties;determining, by the migration controller, that the policy is violatedbased on the one or more measured properties being outside of the one ormore target properties; and sending, from the migration controller tothe migration monitor, a fault message when the policy is violated. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more target properties includea target number of network connections to be provided by the migrationcontroller.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, fromthe migration monitor to the migration controller, a command to controlthe migration by the migration controller such that the policy isenforced at the migration controller.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinthe command causes the number of network connections currently providedby the migration controller to be reduced to the target number.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the migrationmonitor, a command to control the migration such that the policy isenforced.
 6. A system for controlling a migration of data items in adata directory, the system comprising: a migration controller having oneor more processors configured to: migrate a set of one or more dataitems from a source server to destination server; measure one or moreproperties of the migration; determine the one or more measuredproperties are outside of one or more target properties; determine thata policy is violated based on the one or more measured properties beingoutside of the one or more target properties; and a migration monitorhaving one or more processors configured to: send, to the migrationcontroller, the policy to be enforced by the migration controller whenmigrating the set of one or more data items, wherein the policyspecifies the one or more target properties of the migration, whereinthe one or more processors of the migration controller are furtherconfigured to: send, to the migration monitor, a fault message when thepolicy is violated.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or moretarget properties include a target number of network connections to beprovided by the migration controller.
 8. The system of claim 6, whereinthe migration monitor is further configured to send, to the migrationcontroller, a command to control the migration by the migrationcontroller such that the policy is enforced at the migration controller.9. The system of claim 8, wherein the command causes the number ofnetwork connections currently provided by the migration controller to bereduced to the target number.
 10. The system of claim 6, wherein themigration monitor is further configured to determine a command tocontrol the migration such that the policy is enforced.